A Welsh brewery has been taken to task for a fourth time by industry regulators for the packaging of some of its products.

Tiny Rebel Brewing was found to have breached rules on sensible drinking and underage consumption.

Complaints against four Tiny Rebel products – Hywl, Monstar, TinyFast and Primed – were upheld by the alcohol industry’s Independent Complaints Panel (ICP).

The products were launched as part of a January series, a month that in recent years has become linked to health goals and giving up certain types of food and drink.

The text on the company’s website included the line, “Cos Jan’s Bad Enough Beers are all made with love and fun to help chase away the January blues”.

The regulators said the products encouraged irresponsible consumption and suggested the products had therapeutic qualities, could enhance mental or physical capabilities, and change mood or behaviour.

ICP chair Nicola Williams said: “It is socially irresponsible for a producer to mimic well-known non-alcoholic drink brands that are marketed on the grounds of weight loss, meal replacement and performance enhancing properties on alcoholic drinks packaging in such a flagrant manner.

“These cases set new, clear, precedents that all producers should take note of when using well-known non-alcoholic drink brands in alcohol marketing. All brands work hard to ensure that certain connotations are linked with their products and alcohol producers must remember that stricter rules apply in this space.”

All products have now been discontinued.